Only wimps worry about nuclear war! (Wait, say what?!?)

I first started blogging in 2003. And I was following the various wars and military “interventions” the US was pursuing before that.

And I know it’s pointless to complain about it, human nature being what it is. But I’m really sick of simplistic formulations like this¹ from war cheerleaders.

This kind of posturing that dismisses any consideration of nuclear escalation is disingenuous. Of course the US isn’t going to back down simply because of a threat of nuclear weapon use. The entire theory of nuclear deterrence is built around the need to evaluate the real risks of nuclear escalation and not to confuse them with rhetorical bluster from the Other Side.

Sadly, in the world of the Very Serious People, posturing as Dr. Strangelove by sneering at any concern about nuclear escalation does not disqualify someone from being part of the VSP club.

But that doesn’t mean people who try to live in the real world have to regard this kind of rhetorical bluster dismissing any concern about nuclear war as anything but frivolous posturing, at the very best.

To be fair, this contribution by Applebaum is not as ditsy as some by Timothy Snyder, who seems to have talked himself into thinking the risk of nuclear escalation in the Russia-Ukraine War is effectively zero.²

The Biden Administration certainly doesn’t seem to assume that.³ It would be amazingly reckless if they did.

The New Cold Warriors really need to get a better grip on this issue.

1. Applebaum, Anne (2023): Mastodon 09/13/2023. <https://mastodon.online/@anneapplebaum@journa.host/111056959936143853> (Accessed: 2023-13-09).

2. Snyder, Timothy (2023): Nuclear war! Why it isn't happening. Substack 02/08/2023. <https://snyder.substack.com/p/nuclear-war> (Acessed: 2023-23-02).

3. Echols, Connor (2023): Russian hawks push Putin to escalate as US crosses more ‘red lines’. Responsible Statecraft 09/12/2023. <https://responsiblestatecraft.org/atacms-ukraine-russia-putin/> (Accessed: 2023-23-09).